Policeman who brought Sian Kingi's killer to justice vows Barrie Watts will never be released from jail

A GENERATION after one of Queensland's most horrific murders, the men who brought about justice - and suffered in silence - have revealed their torment.

The sickening killing of Sian Kingi on the Sunshine Coast 25 years ago shocked the nation, devastated her family and broke the hearts of hardened crime fighters.

The shy little girl who loved to dance was abducted, raped and murdered by Barrie Watts, with the help of his then-wife Valmae Beck, on November 27, 1987.

As the Noosa schoolgirl's family endures another agonising anniversary of her unspeakable death, they will be in the thoughts of those closest to the case.

None of the police, who all worked around the clock to solve the calculated crime, emerged unscathed.

The toll was no higher than for the undercover operative who was forced to befriend a monster.

After Watts and Beck were arrested, plain clothes officer Matthew Heery was planted in a bugged cell with Watts in an attempt to extract a confession.

Speaking for the first time, Heery told The Sunday Mail of his ongoing torment.

"I shared fairly close space with the people who did it," he said.

"Your basic instinct is to break their necks but you can't.

"You never forget their faces."

After the committal hearing Heery, then 27, took three months' leave before retiring on medical grounds.

"You work together to get the result, to get them off the street and make sure this doesn't happen again but once you've got to that point, and the adrenaline's gone, that's when all the thinking starts," he said.

"It was hard because at the end of it, nobody wanted to talk about it (but) a lot of people cried about it.

"The police force back then . . . there was no safety net and absolutely zero support.

"If you felt hurt, you were less than a man."

Watts and Beck were jailed for life but the case sent Heery "down a bad path".

"It affects your capacity to have a relationship after you see things like that," he said.

"You become a little bit paranoid about how easy it is to lose someone you love."

The key investigators, including former police commissioner Bob Atkinson, enjoyed successful careers but all were burdened by what they had seen.

Alan Bourke, a detective senior constable with the Sunshine Coast CIB at the time, said those on the case became "emotionally involved".

"I think every investigator who was there was torn apart by what happened to Sian," he said.

"It really affected me in that I became extremely possessive of my daughter and worried that something like this might happen to her.

"I wouldn't let her go anywhere by herself and the other police were the same.

"I know how crazy it sounds but you would like to have the ability to go back and be at the park when that little girl got there to protect her."

Bourke was also the exhibits officer - responsible for handling evidence.

"The PM (post-mortem) was the worst. I used to wake up with nightmares," he said.

"I don't have that any more but it took a while to get past that.

"I certainly wasn't saying poor me. In those days you just had to tough it out.

"It's not about me - and I'd hate for you to portray that - but it's still a part of you, after 25 years."

Bob Dallow, who led the homicide squad team assisting the Sunshine Coast CIB, is another who can't forget Sian's smiling face beaming from photographs.

"I think about her every day. She'd be 37 now," he said.

"She'd have a family of her own by now. Her family has been robbed of that."

Dallow, who was awarded the commissioner's certificate for his work on the case, also had daughters about Sian's age.

"When we found Sian...she had her shoes on and her pink socks and I'll remember that for as long as I live," he said.

Dallow said he was sure Watts, an inmate at the high-security Wolston Correctional Centre, would reoffend if released.

"He's not going to ever stop," he said.

"The things they did to her were bloody disgusting.

"If they'd still had a hanging knot I would have quite happily hanged both of them. I still would.

"The other one is dead, thank Christ."

Beck, a mother of six, died in Townsville Hospital in 2008.

Watts became eligible for parole in 2000 but has not applied for release since his last review in 2009.

Bourke, who retired after 32 years, vowed to fight future applications.

"I want to make sure enough pressure is brought to bear so that this guy is never released," he said.

"No one should ever forget what this person has done to an innocent girl.

"If the community forgets, the more chance this guy has probably got of getting out."

Heery said his thoughts this week were with the Kingis.

"The tragedy does not end with Sian...it was only the beginning of something much worse and that's having to live with the horror."

The Kingi family, who have maintained their silence since the tragedy, declined to be interviewed.